The fight was the featured attraction on the six-bout untelevised preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 117 event.

The show took place at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., and preceded the night’s pay-per-view broadcast and a headliner between UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

Story launched a swarm of punches early, and Hazelett, who was fighting for the first time since a knockout loss to Paul Daley in January, never seemed to find a rhythm. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, known for a slick ground game and unorthodox submissions, tried repeatedly to keep the fight on the mat, but Story would deliver only a few punches before returning to his feet and forcing his opponent to do the same.

After using the strategy to win the first round, Story again let his hands fly in the second. The blows forced an already-dazed Hazelett to cover up on the ground, which prompted referee Josh Rosenthal to award a TKO victory at the round’s 1:15 mark.

Story (11-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) now has won four straight fights in the UFC and moves into legitimate welterweight title contention. Hazelett (12-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC), meanwhile, suffers back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.

Despite taking the fight on just two weeks’ notice as an injury replacement for Stanislav Nedkov, Phil Davis maintained a relentless pace and outclassed fellow light heavyweight Rodney Wallace for a clear-cut decision victory.

Davis, a four-time NCAA Division I All-American and former national champion, had the edge standing and on the mat, where he easily improved to dominant ground positions and worked a variety of submission attempts. Although blessed with great conditioning and tons of raw talent, Davis still showed some roughness around the edges and couldn’t capitalize on his many advantageous ground positions.

Still, it was a dominant performance for Davis, who settled for a unanimous-decision victory via scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27.

“I’ve been working on my striking since Abu Dhabi (UFC 112), and I feel like it’s coming along nicely,” he said. “My game plan coming into the fight was to establish the distance with my striking and then get inside and get the takedown. I have to give credit to Rodney Wallace for coming after me. If he looks strong on television, he is five times stronger in person.”

With the win, Davis moves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the UFC. Wallace (9-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC), meanwhile, now has failed three times in his bid for a first UFC win and likely faces a release from the promotion.

The days of Johny Hendricks‘ status as an under-the-radar welterweight contender may be limited.

The two-time NCAA Division I national wrestling champion continued his quick ascent in the MMA world and improved to a perfect 9-0 with a second-round TKO victory over UFC sophomore and “Pros vs. Joes” reality-show winner Charlie Brenneman.

Brenneman, a collegiate wrestler who lost to Hendricks in the 2004 NCAA nationals, actually won the first round after scoring the fight’s first takedown and landing some solid shots from the ground. But in the second, Hendricks quickly wobbled and dropped his opponent with punches, and though initially surviving, Brenneman ate a combination and hit the mat again shortly afterward. The TKO stoppage came at the 0:40 mark of the second round.

Hendricks admittedly was looking for a quick finish.

“Coming into the fight, I predicted a knockout,” Hendricks said. “A lot of times I come out sluggish. I’ve tried to change things up in training camp to avoid that.”

Hendricks, who competed in the WEC prior to the UFC, is now 6-0 under the Zuffa LLC banner, including 4-0 in the UFC. A main-card slot and step up in combination should be in his immediate future. Meanwhile, Brenneman (11-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who topped Jason High in his promotional debut earlier this year, snaps a six-fight win streak and suffers the first loss of his UFC career.

Light heavyweight Tim Boetsch‘s return to the UFC proved a successful one, even if it wasn’t an especially exciting one. Instead, Boetsch put in a workman-like performance against equally matched UFC newcomer Todd Brown and earned a unanimous-decision win via scores of 29-28 on all three judges’ cards.

Boetsch won the first and third rounds of the fight after getting the edge from the clinch and with both takedowns and a handful of submission attempts. The pace often slowed, and a few fans booed through a methodical and action-light second round. But Boetsch overcame a few facial cuts and had the conditioning edge to get the judges’ nod.

Boetsch (12-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who went 2-2 in his first UFC stint, won three fights after the release and now is undefeated in his past four.

“I learned to mentally relax since my last (UFC) fight, how to behave better
when the lights go on, and not let the pressure get to me,” Boetsch said. “I’m disappointed
because I came out here to finish the fight, and I didn’t finish it. But
he was very tough to finish.”

In a heavyweight bout that left early attendees buzzing, Stefan Struve overcame a first-round onslaught and rebounded from the brink of defeat to score a come-from-behind second-round knockout of heavy-handed Christian Morecraft.

Morecraft cruised in a first round that MMAjunkie.com scored 10-8 in his favor. After aptly surviving his 6-foot-11 opponent’s dangerous reach, Morecraft forced the fight to the mat, where his brutal ground and pound and submission defense left Struve a bruised and bloodied mess. Referee Herb Dean nearly stopped the fight in the first round, but Struve did just enough to survive to the bell.

In the second round, the big men launched a firefight and swung with abandon. Unfortunately for Morecraft, Struve connected first and buckled him with a straight right. Struve followed him to the mat with nearly a dozen follow-up blows to force the TKO stoppage at the round’s 0:22 mark.

“I didn’t feel great before the fight, and I had no energy that first round,” he said. “I just couldn’t break his posture because I was just too tired. But when I sat on my stool at the end of the first round, I just said there’s no quit in me.”

Struve (20-4 MMA, 4-2), who suffered a quick knockout loss to Roy Nelson in his most recent bout, now has won four of five fights and picks up just the fourth knockout win of his career. Morecraft (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), meanwhile, experiences defeat for the first time in his two-year pro career.

In the night’s opening bout, veteran welterweight Dennis Hallman picked up his first UFC victory in nearly a decade with an upset of Ben Saunders.

Hallman, who had failed in his four UFC bids since a major upset of Matt Hughes at UFC 29, avoided Saunders dangerous clinch game, shot through his reach advantage, and then controlled the action once on the mat. The combination of the easy takedowns and smothering top game earned Hallman the unanimous decision via scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28.

“The difference for me today was my cardio,” said Hallman, who specifically thanked Team Quest for the improvement. “My cardio was so much better tonight than it has been. Yeah, he hit me with some good shots, but I was just waiting for him to get close so I could take him down.”

Hallman, who returned to the UFC this past December with a knockout loss to John Howard, moves to 42-13-2 overall and 2-4 in the UFC. And thanks to a run in the IFL and Strikeforce, he’s now won six of his past seven fights. Saunders, meanwhile, falls to 8-3-2 (4-3 UFC) and has lost three of his past four, all in the UFC.